Mrs. Clinton’s campaign quickly fired every ounce of ammunition her opposition research team mined on Donald Trump. In this video, why that was a mistake.
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In recent weeks we’ve been discussing timeless lessons from the 2016 election. Today another…about the timing of attacks you may launch on your opponent.
Mrs. Clinton was given gifts of gold by the Trump campaign…his words, his bizarre behavior, his course language. Her opposition research team mined even more.
She had friendly media outlets all too willing to highlight every morsel her opposition research team found: MSNBC, The New York Times, Washington Post and CNN.
Donald Trump was the classic definition of an opposition researcher’s dream. The ammunition was so plentiful that they had trouble deciding when to fire it. So the Clinton Team fired all of it early in the campaign. Why was that a mistake?
Heading into the final three week stretch, the Clinton Team had no fresh cannons left to fire. Nothing left in the arsenal when the FBI Director’s letter hit 11 days before the election. Nothing left to shoot when undecided voters began moving in Trump’s direction. No incriminating footage left to leak to the Washington Post.
Something else happened during the final stage the Clinton Team did not anticipate. Trump’s staff took away his twitter toy and forced him to read scripted words from a teleprompter. When Trump’s staff managed to stop him from sabotaging his own campaign, Clinton had nothing left to throw him off balance.
So what’s the timeless lesson for candidates running for office? Politics is civilized warfare. It requires wartime thinking.
Nobody should run for office without reading the Art of War by Sun Tzu. A campaign is never over until its over. Candidates who try to sit on a lead nearly always lose.
In a campaign, inventory all your opposition research, organize all of your ammunition and always, ALWAYS save some of your best hits for the final stages of the campaign to keep your opponent off balance.
That is one of the most basic rules of political warfare.
This issue is just one of several topics I have covered in my new My New E-book, “10 Timeless Lessons from the 2016 election.” IT’S FREE.
If you’d like a copy, go to JayTownsend.com. Near the top of the home page, type in your email address and it’s yours.
Political consultant Jay Townsend works with smart, passionate candidates who want to run for office, win elections and make a difference. He has successfully helped candidates learn how to run for the U.S. Senate, how to run for Congress, how to run for Mayor and develop a winning campaign marketing strategy.
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